Personal shift : the potential for transformative learning in youth through international service education programs

This interdisciplinary research paper explores the potential for transformative learning in senior school students who participated in a cultural immersion experiential education program offered by St. Michaels University School (SMUS) in Victoria, BC, Canada. In applying grounded theory methodology and narrative analysis to 12 semi-structured interviews I conducted with SMUS students and alumni who had partaken of the experiential program, I discovered learning and transformation of consciousness themes in their comments. From these findings, I have created a transformative learning process theoretical model that outlines the phases of transformational change or a personal shift experienced by the students and alumni during and following their international service trips. Among the insights I have gained from this study is the presence of each student's recognition of his or her maturation or growing up that occurred concurrently with his or her transformative learning process.

Author dc:creator

• Kerr, Susan Patricia

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Kool, Richard
• Schissel, Wendy
• Etmanski, Catherine

• experiential
• international
• learning
• service
• transformative
• youth

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10170/748

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.viurrspace.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Anull%3A10170%2F748